WHEN
Wed, Apr 29, 2026 at 05:00pm, ET
Global institutions and the Paris Agreement set a high bar for global climate action, requiring countries to make Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to keep global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. The gap between promises, commitments, and the actual state of climate action outcomes is visible and widely reported. Can AI close the gap between climate pledges and real-world outcomes? This seminar explores AI’s potential for Climate action accountability.
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Mon, Apr 27, 2026 from 03:00pm — 05:00pm, ET
This talk explores the transregional journey of the marṡiyah (elegy) from Safavid Iran to Mughal India through the lens of Iranian émigré poets. It examines why, despite the reorientation of royal patronage under Shah Ṭahmāsp—which prioritized the composition of marṡiyah over qaṣīdah (panegyric) —the genre reached its fullest expression beyond Iran’s borders, specifically within the Shiʿi court of Awadh. Central to this discussion is the Persian dīwān of Mullah Ḳhat̤ā Shūshtarī, an eighteenth-century émigré who served as a formal roẓah-ḳhwān (reciter of Karbala elegies) at Nawāb Āṣif-ud-Dawlah’s court and imāmbāṛā in Lucknow. The talk argues that Ḳhat̤ā’s work represents both the final efflorescence of Persian marṡiyah in Lucknow and a crucial transitional moment in the vernacularization of the genre from Persian to Urdu. Ultimately, this identifies the Persianate foundations of a literary tradition in Lucknow that Mīr Anīs would later carry to its zenith in the nineteenth century
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Fri, Apr 17, 2026 from 09:00am — 03:00pm, ET
Please join us for the Mittal Institute Annual Symposium 2026. This event is free and open to the public.
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Wed, Apr 8, 2026 at 05:30pm, ET
“Trajectories of Development” with Rahul Mehrotra, John T. Dunlop Professor in Housing and Urbanization, Harvard Graduate School of Design; Sarah Page, Lecturer in Urban Planning and Design, Harvard Graduate School of Design
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Fri, Apr 3, 2026 at 02:00pm, ET
Please join us for a seminar on South Asian politics co-hosted by the Saxena Center at Brown University, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, and the Mittal Institute at Harvard University, featuring speaker Rajeshwari Majumdar, Assistant Professor, School of Media and Public Affairs, The George Washington University.
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Wed, Apr 1, 2026 at 12:00pm, ET
Tresa Abraham’s postdoctoral project is on the cultural history of taxidermy in India, examining how wild animals and their preserved bodies shaped negotiations of power, science, and sovereignty in colonial and postcolonial contexts. This seminar will focus on the “afterlives” of an Indian elephant mount, collected by William T. Hornaday, following its transformation from an illegally hunted animal in colonial South India into a composite taxidermy mount at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology.
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Mon, Mar 30, 2026 from 04:00pm — 06:00pm, ET
Join us for a low-key chai and book swap social at CGIS South!
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Fri, Mar 27, 2026 at 02:00pm, ET
Join us for a talk with Dan Slater on “Mischief of the Franchise: The Grant of Universal Suffrage in British Ceylon (Sri Lanka), 1927-28.” What prompted a white ruling elite to grant universal suffrage to a population of color for the very first time in modern history? This presentation discusses the surprising and puzzling decision by the colonial Donoughmore Commission to extend the franchise in British Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) in 1927-28, offering a novel account for both why and how suffrage expansion unfolds in the absence of either elite or popular pressures to expand voting rights.
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Tue, Mar 24, 2026 at 05:30pm, ET
Please join us for the launch of our new exhibit featuring Mittal Institute South Asian Arts Fellow Swapnaa Tamhane. The evening will begin with a presentation by the fellow, followed by a panel discussion with Jinah Kim, George P. Bickford Professor of Indian and South Asian Art in the Department of History of Art & Architecture and Faculty Director of the Arts Advisory Council at the Mittal Institute, Harvard University. The program will conclude with a reception featuring regional snacks and beverages.
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